


Epitasis (Ardyn x Reader)

by hypaalicious



Series: Chocobros x Reader [8]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Blood, Choking, Dubious Consent, F/M, Fake!noctis, Mind Games, Psychological Horror, Reader-Insert, Rough Sex, Tentacle Sex, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, fake!Ignis, fake!Prompto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-06-24
Packaged: 2018-11-18 11:43:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11290029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hypaalicious/pseuds/hypaalicious
Summary: After finding Luna dead at the hands of the chancellor Ardyn Izunia, the eclectic and flamboyantly ruthless man kidnaps you to Zegnatus Keep where you struggle to keep your sanity in a terrifying place all on your own.





	Epitasis (Ardyn x Reader)

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all are gonna hate me for two reasons.
> 
> 1) This chapter is the complete opposite of Part 6 in just about every sense of the word. I set y'all up the bomb.
> 
> 2) This is also where the updates will be a lot slower; I've been able to update so fast because I've had these pre-written. But from here on out, I'll have to write from scratch. I am also doing 35898543 things at once, too. So yeah.
> 
> Thanks for the love and support, guys. I am on Tumblr if you like incoherent fandom shitposts and inanity, btw. I'm just using this site as a more legit archive for my works for those who won't touch Tumblr with a ten foot pole (I've been there, honestly).

You skid around the corner of the narrow corridor and braced your back against the cool metal as you held your breath, straining your ears to catch any sound of someone following you. Holding your left arm close to you in hopes that the insistent throbbing from the wound there would calm a bit, you chanced taking in a deep breath that turned into a sob halfway.

_No. You can’t break. Not here. Keep it together, ______._

You willed the tears back into your head, closing your eyes and steadying your breath even as your heart beat frantically in your chest. You needed to move, soon. Or else he’d find you. And you couldn’t handle that. Sweat beaded on your forehead and collected on the exposed skin left from your ragged tank top, and you opened your eyes to survey your surroundings.

You had no idea where you were exactly, but in remembering the chain of events that got you in this predicament, you were at least sure that you were somewhere in Gralea, right at the heart of the Empire. Just the thought of it had your skin crawling, looking at the industrial walls with random numbers painted on them. It seemed like a very large factory, but you didn’t know for what. And there didn’t seem to be a soul around save for _him_ , which made the desolate aura of the place even worse to your senses. You _had_ to get out of there.

_But where would I go? I’m knee deep in enemy territory. And… I can’t go back._

Thinking that you heard another footstep echo through the halls, you started moving aimlessly, taking the corridors in a zig zag fashion that you would hope would throw off your attacker, keeping your eyes out for anything else that may pose an unexpected danger to an already shitty situation.

Your brain replayed the fateful moment like it usually did, unbidden and unwanted across your minds eye. You had scrambled closer to where you had seen Luna despite the dangers of getting too close to an angry goddess, determined to warn her of the Imperial ship that had snuck up and landed on the platform behind her. You had gotten separated from everyone in the hustle and bustle of making sure that Altissia was properly evacuated, and even though you could see that Prompto had somehow commandeered a small Imperial craft to get Noct closer to the Hydraen, you needed to ensure Lunafreya’s safety from whatever the Empire was planning.

By the time you made it there, it was too late. You stared in horror as the priestess faltered, dropping her staff and falling to the ground as the person you knew to be the Chancellor of the Empire held a dagger to her stomach. The way he cradled her in her final moments was almost intimate, and if it wasn’t for the blood on his hands, you could have almost been tricked into thinking that his treachery was really to her aid.

You were speechless until Ardyn Izunia stood and turned to face his unexpected company with an unrepentant smile on his face, and you remembered letting out the biggest battle cry you could muster before charging at him with your weapon at the ready. He was quicker on his feet than you thought he should be, for what seemed like a spoiled, self-indulgent pawn of the Empire, and parried your sword easily with the dagger he still had in his hand. You didn’t have the chance to retaliate before he gripped your throat in a sudden, fierce hold, and the clatter of your weapon to the ground seemed strangely distant. You glared at him even as your airway constricted and your vision blurred at the edges, clawing at his fingers with your own and feeling the slick blood from the Oracle coat your struggles with added uselessness.

“My, my… what a headstrong thing you are,” Ardyn crooned, his deep voice rolling over you. “You might have bitten off more than you can chew.”

Hoarsely, you hoped that all of the hatred you were feeling was channeled into your eyes as you managed to reply. “Fuck you. Luna didn’t deserve this.”

Tilting his head to the side, he curiously regarded you while the wind tousled his auburn locks. “You’re right. She didn’t,” Ardyn tightened his grip slowly, and you started wheezing. “She deserved a slow, agonizing death at the hands of the fate she was born into. I’d say that I was… _merciful_.”

Your eyelids fluttered even as you tried retaining consciousness, and the first tendrils of panic started seeping into your bones. You didn’t want the last thing you saw to be Ardyn’s face, but you didn’t have a choice in the matter.

“As for _you_ , my dear… let’s see what kind of death I can give you.”

When you woke up, you were in the place you were traversing now, disoriented and confused. You didn’t have anything to defend yourself with, and the small sense of relief you had when you found your phone still on your person was crushed when you saw that you had no signal to contact any of your friends. _Do they think I’m dead?_ Sucking in a breath, you had walked over to the doorway of the room that was nothing more than a metal box with a bed and tentatively pressed what you hoped was the door switch, and jumped at the hiss it made when it opened.

Time slowly lost meaning, especially after the last of your cell phone battery fizzled out. You busied yourself with keeping an eye out for anything that posed a threat, feeling a little bit comforted once you were able to get your hands on a slightly rusted pipe. The weight of it helped ground you in the reality of the situation when everything in you just wanted to disassociate, and that wasn’t something you could afford to do.

You wandered for what seemed like miles in the strange complex, unable to trace your steps back to the room in which you started, but exploring different areas to try and get your bearings in the strange area. When you found rations, no matter how questionable they might have seemed, you ate what you could and stored the rest in your pockets in order to keep your strength up. When your brain started to go fuzzy and your footsteps became less careful, you made sure to brace your back in a corner that would hide you from any potential enemies before falling into a sleep just light enough to give you the energy you needed to keep going. You were anxious, jittery and entirely discombobulated. And there was no end in sight.

You started to wonder why the place was a ghost town. The first time you came across a room with an MT in it, you were halfway through a scream before you realized that it was dead. Or deactivated. Whichever it was, it didn’t move when you approached it, and while you were thankful that you had yet to try your makeshift weapon out you weren’t inclined to stick around it. _They’re even creepier up close._ You found some more of them randomly littered in the hallways, collapsed in heaps and staring blankly with eyes as dark as the night. You avoided them all like the plague, not willing to keep your back to them until they were out of sight.

Eventually, you started jumping at shadows. The constant feeling that you were being watched grew ever persistent, and you found yourself scanning the corners of the ceiling for evidence of security cameras. You didn’t know if your eyes were failing you, having grown used to straining constantly in the flickering lights of the complex, but even when your search came up empty it didn’t alleviate any of the paranoia you felt had become your only companion in your quest to escape. But your company wasn’t helping to decrease the loneliness and desperation that was becoming a permanent part of you as a result, and your breaking point was creeping ever closer.

Your feet worn and tired, your mind mush, you let the iron bar clatter to the floor as you hugged your shoulders. Praying to every Astral you could think of, you looked up to the sky you couldn’t see from inside your makeshift prison and hoped they could hear your inner plea.

_Please. Let them be alive. Let them come find me. Somehow._

The sound of a sudden gunshot echoed through the halls, and you just managed to snap out of your impromptu trip down memory lane to remember who you had found… and who you were now running from.

“You’re not gonna come out and say hello?”

You scurried to the far end of the corridor and strained your hearing as best you could over the pounding of your heart, trying to gauge from where he was approaching. The acoustics were horrible, but eventually you were able to pinpoint his location. You had sworn not to let him catch you… but something had to give. You couldn’t keep up the game of cat and mouse any longer.

Taking a deep breath to steady yourself, you squared your shoulders, clenched that fairly useless metal pole of yours, and stepped out from behind the safety of the wall to face your pursuer.

“Prompto… stop this. I’m not your enemy.”

The blonde merely regarded you as you hardly managed to not shake with a combination of fear and anticipation. Tapping the tip of his gun against his lips in a contemplative fashion, his blue eyes traveled down to your arm injury. “Huh. Didn’t think I missed that badly.”

Instinctively placing a hand over the place where the bullet had grazed you earlier and sent you running in the first place, you swallowed. “Maybe you meant to miss. You don’t want to do this, do you, Prom?”

He let out a laugh then, his normally carefree chuckle laced with something darker. “What do you think this is, ______? A movie? Of _course_ I want to do this.”

You took a step backwards. “Prom, please… just hear me out. It’s not what you think…”

“Isn’t that what they all say?” He drawled, taking aim again. “Run if you don’t want to die just yet, traitor. I enjoy wearing you down.”

_Traitor._ Every time you heard that word, it sent a new pang of hurt right to your heart. He thought you had killed Luna and escaped during all of the commotion in Altissia, and had managed to come all the way to the capital to seek revenge. When you had prayed for them to find you, you didn’t know that the gods would be so cruel as to reunite them with you in this manner, with a bunch of deadly misunderstandings that caused one of the people you loved to look at you with hostility.

For a brief moment, you considered letting him put a bullet right between your eyes and ending it all.

Prompto pulled the trigger, and your self-preservation kicked in to save you as you dodged and heard the bullet ricochet off the back of the wall where you were standing. You could still see the spark it left in your vision as you raced around another corner to give yourself some cover from the gunman. An idle whistle was heard, accenting the slow footsteps as he followed your path, and you were as careful as possible to limit the sound of your own as you created as much distance as you could between you two. _I don’t know how I’m going to make it happen, but I’ve got to let Prom know the truth. And to do that, I guess I should stay alive._

A clacking sound filtered to your ears then, and you just managed to break out into a run as another shot rang out. He was fast, but then again, you knew he always was. You had watched him enough in battle to know just how much shit you were in. Around another corner you went, the scenery becoming almost a monochromatic blur as you pushed yourself to keep going forward. You didn’t know anymore if the footsteps you were hearing were echoes of your own, or a sign that Prompto was gaining on you. Either or, it only served to elevate your heart rate and push you to go even faster, your eyes going in multiple directions as you tried searching for anything that would either save you or kill you.

You had only glanced backwards for a moment, but that second or two was all you needed to go crashing right into the arms of someone you hadn’t seen. Something inside you cracked, and you started screaming all of the fear and the pain that had been accumulating within you for what seemed like so long. Clawing frantically at the shirt of the person who now had a firm grip on your shoulders, you shook your head in almost an erratic fashion while a panicked mantra spilled forth from your lips.

“Let me go _let me go LET ME GO!!_ ”

“______, stop it, it’s me!”

At the sound of his voice, you immediately ceased your meltdown as if he had hit a switch within you. Looking up into the face of the only person you knew who could command you like that, you clutched his shirt sleeves even tighter in your hands as you rambled almost incoherently.

“Ignis… oh my gods, you have to… we have to… Prompto thinks that I… I don’t… I can’t get through to him, I have to…”

“You’re hyperventilating. I need you to stay with me,” he gave you a small shake, and you tried taking deeper breaths without feeling dizzy afterwards.

Gulping for air, tears started forming in your eyes, borne from the rush of relief that raced through you at just being in his presence once again. “Iggy… I’ve got to explain…”

“Shhh,” one of his gloved hands brushed lightly against your lips, silencing you. “It’s alright.”

You didn’t know how or why you ended up kissing him, but soon all that mattered was the feel of his hair between your fingers and his lips on yours as you allowed yourself to get lost in the familiar sensations of just being engulfed in him. You melded your body to his, the familiar fit of your frames making you relive all of the times that he held you close, made love to you, or just straight up fucked you. You needed the comfort that he could give you, which you believed was the only thing strong enough to erase the horrible memories you had accumulated in that hellhole. Because with him, you were whole.

Pulling back from the kiss just enough for him to speak, his hand reached up to caress your cheek. “Darling, you don’t have to explain anything to me,” Ignis said softly. You looked up at him gratefully, gazing into those beautiful green eyes of his as you leaned your face into his palm.

“…because I already know everything.”

Your mouth fell open, but you didn’t know if it was from shock or pain. You couldn’t produce a sound, even though your mind was screaming and your heart stuttered. In a daze, you managed to look down and see the beautifully intricate design of the hilt of the dagger that you had once spent way too much time memorizing in battle, in awe of how the wielder flawlessly delivered strikes and fantasizing about whether or not any of his battle skills translated to the bedroom.

Now that blade was buried into your stomach, silently conjured up by the man you thought you could always trust with your heart as well as your life… and he was taking it away. Shakily, you lifted your hand and placed it on top of his that was gripping the handle, wanting to find the strength to shove him away. But you couldn’t. And it no longer mattered.

“I wish I could say that I’m sorry that it has come down to this, ______,” you heard Ignis whisper, even though you couldn’t bring yourself to look up at him again. “But I’m not.”

You were half expecting him to twist the blade just to make matters worse, but the weapon simply dematerialized as you slid to the floor. Never in your wildest dreams would you have ever guessed that you would be lying on the ground in some undisclosed location in the Empire, bleeding out of a fatal wound that Ignis Scientia inflicted upon you. But then again, there was nothing in those dreams that included anything you had managed to get yourself into since embarking on what was only supposed to be a simple road trip for the Prince’s wedding. You didn’t expect sexual dalliances with all of them, you didn’t plan on falling in love, and you _especially_ didn’t plan on having the bruised pieces of your heart shatter with the rest of your body on the floor. The moisture that seemed to have been threatening your eyes for the longest time finally spilled over, trailing a path over the bridge of your nose to add to the fluids on the cold, metal slabs.

_“Your tears are quite beautiful, darling. But then again… I’ve yet to find anything about you that isn’t beautiful.”_

The whoosh of air that left your lungs was meant to be a bitter laugh, cursing your mind once again for bringing up details of events that you didn’t need played over. But you couldn’t help but wonder if he found your death as beautiful as he once found your tears.

—-

You opened bleary eyes to stare at the fluorescent lights in the ceiling above you, a dim halo clouding your vision. Having a strange case of dejavu, you sat up as fast as you could only to have your entire world spin in response. _Am I in the same room that I started in?_ You swung your legs over the side of the bed and immediately clutched your head, trying to no avail to get your bearings straight.

“Aren’t you lucky to have had a master healer in your midst,” a voice sounded from the opposite side of the room, causing you to jump and immediately tense up when you recognized it. “Otherwise, I’m sure this place would have been your grave.”

Glaring through your fingers at the place where you knew Ardyn was, you felt along your stomach and was surprised that you didn’t even feel a scar. If it wasn’t for the hole left in your tank top, you could have sworn that it was a dream. _Gods, if it wasn’t a dream…_ you replayed the events in your head, and a heavy feeling settled in your chest like adamantine. 

All of your friends hated you, and the one you thought you loved so deeply…

You closed your eyes. “You should’ve just let me die,” you mumbled flatly, your hands falling from your face to rest on your knees.

“Oh, but that would be no fun. Human bodies smell dreadful when left to rot.” Ardyn flamboyantly replied, pushing himself away from the wall. “Besides, you could say I have too much of a… vested interest in observing how you traverse your rather _unfavorable_ circumstances to just allow you to expire tragically on the ground.”

If you weren’t in such a state of duress, you were sure that you would be feeling enraged at the fact that Ardyn had been watching you run around like a chocobo with its head cut off for fun. But it was hard for you to feel anything but a persistent numbness that made you feel entirely directionless. “Why?”

“Why not? Entertainment is short in the empire these days, and you are an excellent specimen.” He lifted his eyebrows almost comically when you raised your head to look at him silently. “Oh, don’t tell me you’ve given up already.”

Even though you didn’t outwardly reply, you were sure that in your eyes there was untold depths of despair roiling in them. Ardyn regarded you for a moment before a smirk lifted a corner of his mouth. “Perhaps you’d benefit from some advice from an old man.”

Sensing that he was both the type to be in love with the sound of his own voice and would ramble to you no matter what your actual response was, you just blinked at him and set your face in the most ambivalent expression you could muster.

“Pain, in all its myriad forms, is transmutable. Many let the weight of it erase them. Yet others become transformed by it,” he approached you slowly, the swishing of fabric from his many layers of clothing filtering to your ears. “I thought you were the latter, but it seems all it takes is a little misunderstanding between friends to bring you to your knees. Pity.”

A twinge of irritation at his obvious faux concern nudged at you through the void of your emotions. You were pretty sure that you hated that man. It was his fault that you ended up in this mess in the first place, and if you didn’t count the dormant MTs and who used to be your closest friends that despised you enough to want to kill you on sight, then he was your only company in that hellhole.

Wordlessly, you got up from the bed and made to walk over to the exit. Your world swam dangerously and tilted, and you staggered for a moment before pausing to center yourself.

“Are you certain that you want to do that? I’d imagine that you’re feeling quite anemic from such tremendous blood loss,” Ardyn crooned, and you rolled your eyes before you could stop yourself. You felt like you were a mouse in an intricate maze, but too dumb to get out of it. Staring for a few more moments at the door you were once so intent on reaching, you thought about the kinds of things that awaited you on the other side. It was either going to be the same monotonous cycle of wandering grey metal hallways, or the chance of getting killed by friends that you couldn’t convince of your innocence. Understandably, you weren’t looking forward to starting that shitshow all over again.

_Only idiots do the same thing over again and expect different results. I’ve got to be smarter about my circumstances._

Turning your head back towards him, you contemplated the beginnings of what had to be the most insane idea birthed from a combination of lack of sleep, stress, paranoia, severe heartbreak, a disturbing near-death experience, and a whole lot of “fuck it, things _cannot_ get any worse”.

_Let’s see if I can seduce the chancellor of Niflheim._

It was a long shot, but you were not about to spend any more time being trapped in a never ending hellhole. And the person who was both your prison master and your most unlikely savior was in the same room with you. If you could get under his skin enough, then maybe you had a chance at escape. _He’s a strange one, but men will always be men… right?_ Studying Ardyn’s features, you were both relieved and also somewhat exasperated to find that he actually wasn’t a bad looking man. You wanted the attempt to not be entirely repulsive to your senses, but you didn’t want to actually become even minutely attracted to the enigma. You couldn’t tell what kind of a figure he had underneath all of the ridiculous clothing that he sported, but you couldn’t imagine him being out of shape considering the way he disarmed you with ease back in Altissia.

“So, when are you gonna tell me the _real_ reason you saved me, Chancellor? Let’s not pretend that you actually have an altruistic streak,” You said before you could think too much about what you were doing. “See something you like?” Being sultry had never been your strong suit, and you were sure that you came off as the flippant, worn-down woman that you were rather than the radiant seductress persona you were trying to achieve.

He tilted his head to the side and regarded you silently, and you stubbornly met his gaze in a silent dare. A part of you knew that you were dancing with the devil now, but you didn’t have anything else to lose. _I’ve pretty much lost everything that mattered, already._ That gave you enough to bolster you through his perusal, and when he elected to speak, the teasing levity that you were used to hearing from him was completely absent.

“Careful, little one. I am nothing like those adolescent boys that became so enamored with you. I will break you until there is nothing left but ashes to keep contained on my mantle.” There was a pause, and his demeanor changed back so quickly to something jovial that you started to wonder if he had some type of personality disorder. “But of course, if that’s what you _want_ …” Ardyn let the sentence trail off, placing a finger to his chin and looking upwards in mock contemplation before sliding his amber eyes towards you.

_Check._

You were never good at chess, and now you were playing a game with who might as well be the master of the deadliest one yet. You let go of your hastily contrived plan of seduction and actually thought about what you were doing. Ardyn was giving you a fair warning… or so it appeared. There was literally nothing stopping him from doing whatever he wanted with you anyway, considering how weak you were currently. Just the thought of it made your skin crawl, but also sparked something in the remnants of your broken soul that was morbidly curious and possibly more than a little bit suicidal. If you couldn’t get out of your physical prison, then perhaps you could be made to forget your mental one.

You took a step towards him almost unconsciously.

Could he be the one to make you forget about the pain, even if he only replaced it with a different kind? One that you could handle a lot better than the countless nights you knew you would have to endure, replaying the glint in Prompto’s eyes right before he fired his gun or the loving way that Ignis embraced you right before he gutted you without remorse?

You took another step.

If you were stripped of the last vestiges of hope you knew that remained in your tattered heart, then perhaps you could be reborn into this new reality that you were thrust into. One that you couldn’t survive as you were, but maybe as you could be.

And another.

You’d hate yourself. You already did for not having it in you to turn around and walk out of one cell to nobly travel through another for the sake of love. It was perfect if all Ardyn wanted to was destroy you. You didn’t need love or any of the inevitable heartbreak that always accompanied it.

You stood in front of him, gazing up at his face with a fair amount of trepidation despite being committed enough with your decision to make it this far.

You didn’t need yourself. But maybe you needed him.

Maneuvering your hypothetical chess piece into a prime position for your opponent to place you at “check-mate”, you sucked in a breath and waited.

“Oh, my…” Ardyn hummed, lifting his hand and grasping your chin with his fingers, tilting your head up to look more squarely at his smug expression. “What a timid thing you’ve become. Such a change from the mighty Couerl that dared challenge me with a blade not so long ago.” He smiled as he leaned his face closer to yours, and you couldn’t help the shiver that racked your body at the motion.

“Come, now. Don’t be shy. Show me a bit of that fire you once harnessed.” His fingers tightened on your jaw, certain to leave a bruise whenever he chose to relinquish it. “Give me the _infinite_ pleasure of ripping it away.”

Closing your eyes, you pushed yourself forward to mash your lips on his, refusing to acknowledge the nagging feeling that you had fallen perfectly into a trap he had laid out for you from the very beginning. The stubble on his chin rubbed against your mouth as he eagerly accepted what you were offering, his tongue overpowering your own in its quest for dominance. To your dismay, your body became awash in almost immediate arousal, starved for the physical contact and affection that you had grown far too used to in the company of the traveling Insomnians. Without meaning to, a moan escaped your throat as you came up for air, and you clutched at the front of his embroidered coat.

“So eager…” Ardyn said as one of his hands felt down to the clasp on your pants, undoing it effortlessly. “I can see why the Prince and his entourage took to you so easily.” The other was grasping your upper arm in a tight grip to hold you in place, and you focused intently on that pain to override the feelings the mention of your ex-friends-to-lovers invoked within you. _Please, just erase them from me._ Your silent plea must’ve gotten across in the nick of time, as deft fingers found your clit and massaged the nub there vigorously. You shouted out your pleasure, throwing your head back and letting his fingers unravel you. The arm that he was still holding was slowly going numb, but you didn’t care. Reaching your own hand up to feel around his chest for some catch to start divesting Ardyn of his layers, you let out a frustrated groan as you found no purchase in anything that could get you closer to his skin.

“Think you’ve earned that already, hmm?” Ardyn’s fingers worked themselves more harshly, the friction adding an element that had you writhing and your eyelids fluttering. Letting your hand fall from his chest, you gave yourself up to the feeling of being controlled, sensing the oncoming rush of your orgasm barreling towards you like an oncoming train.

It was the sensation of something smooth and cool brushing against the nape of your neck that turned on the warning bells that should have been blaring from the start.

Your eyes shot open in a panic just as you came hard, the dichotomy of emotions co-mingling in swirl of unique adrenaline rushes that scorched through your body. You felt the rumble of Ardyn’s laughter through his fingers as he slid them inside of you to feel your inner walls around them, and the thing you couldn’t name started curling like a snake around your neck.

“Ah. There it is. _Fear_ ,” he announced triumphantly. You were frozen even as you panted your breaths out, too distracted by the mystery appendage continuing its path along your neck, the end brushing against your collarbone. You didn’t dare avert your gaze from Ardyn’s, even as another one curled around your waist and started lifting your tattered tank top from your frame. Your breaths started becoming shorter, and regret began to set in once the rush of endorphins from your hasty orgasm faded from your bones.

“Remember, my dear; _this is what you wanted…_ ” you barely noticed your top hitting the floor because you were morbidly enthralled by the transformation that was going on in front of you. You thought that keeping your focus on his face was the safest bet, because you were sure that something in your brain would break as a result of investigating the source of the tentacles. Instead, you blinked as you watched tendrils of black creep into the whites of his eyes, accenting the eerie golden glow that his irises had taken on.

_By the Six, he’s not even human._

You started struggling before you even realized what you were doing, your heart beating faster in your chest as the survival instinct won out and tried to get you out of yet another bad decision you’ve managed to make. You knew it was fruitless, considering how weak you still were and the fact that Ardyn’s significant strength would continue to hold you hostage for as long as he willed it.

You realized that you weren’t just fighting him. You were fighting the dark part of yourself that craved the kind of treatment he could give you.

“The conflict of emotions can be quite overwhelming,” he coaxed, his naturally deep voice layered with ethereal frequencies you couldn’t quite place. “I see your inner battle with it. Let me… _help_ you.”

In what seemed to be a flash, you were pushed against the opposite wall, the side of your face pressed roughly against the metal there to the point where you could feel the indentations of the bolts that held them together. You couldn’t see him anymore, but somehow that made it worse to not be able to look into the unearthly eyes of your daemonic lover. Tendrils wrapped around both of your arms like vines, gradually tightening as more of them finished removing your pants and underwear. Your mind was going a mile a minute, trying to understand what what happening and why you were letting it continue.

_Heh, letting it continue. I relinquished that control so long ago._ Even as the tentacles trapped your arms behind your back and spread your legs as they teased the tender skin along your inner thigh, you tried settling with your foolish decision. _Can I live with this?_

A languid brush against your clit sent a jolt of fresh arousal through you, accented by a few more almost tender “licks” from the vines encircling your breasts like a strange harness.

In that moment, you felt like you could.

You gasped at the feeling of what you hoped was Ardyn’s member probing at your entrance from behind. You didn’t know what other mystery appendages that he had hidden underneath all of those eccentric clothes he’d evidently removed enough of while you were too busy coming to terms with what was going to happen to you. It was hard to concentrate on just one thing when there was just _so much_ being done to you at once.

You were used to begging. You were used to hurting. You were used to being overstimulated. But never all at once. It was almost to the point where you thought you could literally feel your mind start to shatter trying to comprehend it all.

Then you felt his hands on your hips, and without preamble he shoved his girth inside you with one thrust that had you crying out, your voice bouncing off of the surface you were still firmly plastered to. Still slightly swollen from your last orgasm and wet enough to have welcomed him with ease, you closed your eyes as a tear leaked from a corner of one of them. You didn’t _want_ to want this. But you did. And with every hard thrust that followed, you started letting go of what reservations that remained and surrendered yourself to the erotic punishment you were subjected to. You heard Ardyn hum his approval from behind you, the tentacle around your throat constricting.

“It’s been too long since I’ve indulged myself like this…” his voice sounded closer to a growl now, and goosebumps pimpled your skin in response. “I believe I may be partial to keeping you. I _do_ have the power to make you immortal, after all. How does that sound, my dear? Submitting to me for the rest of eternity? Allowing yourself to be used to my every whim only to beg for more as you lie broken at my feet? _It’s a release you know only I can give you.”_

_Eternity?_ Your eyes shot open as helpless moans escaped your lips, not wanting even the _idea_ of forever being his masochistic plaything in the back of your mind. You wanted to say that he was bluffing, but you knew better. You felt the tentacles constricting everywhere they were wound, and you endured the pins and needles in all of your extremities as circulation slowed. _Maybe I’ll be lucky and he’ll kill me now by accident and I won’t have to carry anything past this moment in the mess my life has become._ Your vision was edged in black, disassociating yourself from your body in alarming ways as you tried taking in more air to your lungs to no avail. Disturbingly, you could still feel him moving inside of you, and it was the only source of pleasure you were managing to get as you approached your second near-death experience.

Ardyn came with a deep grunt, quite suddenly and with a stuttering breath that set your labeling heart skipping at the shred of humanity that was left in the monster of a man. The tentacle around your neck lessened the pressure just enough to allow you to take one deep breath that set your head spinning even as you felt his fingers in your hair and yanked your head back away from the wall as he emptied himself within you. His voice then seemed to come from all around you, yet you swore you could feel his breath at your ear.

_“Come to me in your darkest hour, and I will show you just how deep the abyss goes.”_

He let you drop. You weren’t entirely sure you felt the floor rush to catch you.

You didn’t hear him leave. It was as if he was never there.

You weren’t sure how long you laid there, coming back to yourself. Watching the detail in your drab environment filter back into focus. Feeling your heart rate settle into something resembling normalcy. Getting used to knowing that your arms and legs were still connected to your body.

Even after you managed to get yourself dressed again, you couldn’t stop trembling. You glanced at your arms and saw the dark bruises that seemed almost like burns marking your skin. You knew that the rest of you looked just as bad, even without a mirror.

You felt empty, and now more alone than before. Despite this, you refused to miss him. _Refused._ Sitting on the bed with your arms encircling your legs, you just stared into space until you found it within you to carefully pack up everything about your situation and what had happened between you and Ardyn into an industrial sized box in your head and meticulously clamped it shut.

His last words still echoed to you, defiantly battling your attempts at compartmentalizing.

Not particularly wanting to stay in that room that still smelled like the sex you couldn’t believe you had, you got up and slowly approached the door. Mechanically hitting the switch to open the door, you didn’t even flinch at the hissing noise as you blankly stepped out into the hallway.

The door closed behind you, but you carried everything from there with you. 

You took an almost casual stroll of a pace, not having a destination in mind. It wasn’t like you had much of a hope of escaping, anymore. You focused on the fall of your footsteps, feeling half like you were experiencing the most lucid dream you ever had. As your mind finally fell silent, you welcomed the relative peace as you rounded a corner.

Someone at the opposite end of the hallway made you stop in your tracks.

You stared expressionless at Noct’s figure, his signature hairstyle just as noticeable as his short sleeved black jacket and long shorts. He met your gaze, and you were proud that your heart didn’t even skip a beat at the recognition.

You were done hoping.

When you saw the tale-tell flash of light that signified his summoning of the Royal Arms, you simply closed your eyes, took a deep breath, and turned back down the way you came. 

Noct stood in the same place you had left him, listening to your hurried footsteps disappearing into another random area of the maze, the outlines of the weapons eventually dispersing back into the ether. A smirk graced his boyish features, twisting his expression into something uncharacteristically sinister.

“Keep running, little one. Run until you can’t. I’ll be waiting.”

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, also, if you're curious. Some language trivia:
> 
> "In classical drama, the epitasis (Ancient Greek: ἐπίτασις) is the main action of a play, in which the trials and tribulations of the main character increase and build toward a climax and dénouement." - Wikipedia


End file.
